Polyvinyl alcohol is a commercially available polymer which is readily available and relatively inexpensive. It has been used for preparing battery separators. However, known battery separators made of polyvinyl alcohol are subject to oxidative degradation similar to that suffered by separators made of Cellophane. In an alkaline battery, a separator is contacted with, typically, a 45 wt.% solution of aqueous potassium hydroxide containing an oxidizing agent such as silver oxide. This environment leads to the oxidative degradation of the separators.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a polyvinyl alcohol material that is resistant to oxidative degradation and otherwise has properties rendering it suitable for use as a separator for an alkaline battery. It is a further object of the invention of providing a method of making such polyvinyl alcohol, to provide a method of making battery separators, and to provide battery separators.